Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to snow melting devices and those that utilize heating elements to melt snow into liquid. More specifically, the present invention relates to a mobile hand cart appliance in which snow is loaded into a hopper and melted into water using a water heater, a heated water circulation system, and a hopper interior that supports snow and water until the water is allowed to evacuate the hopper.
Removing large quantities of fallen snow from a sidewalk or driveway can be a difficult task, particularly if there has been sufficient accumulation that displacing snow in one location and moving it to another location is prohibitive. This is particularly true for long driveways, inner city areas, and in large parking lots. In inner city areas, there is limited space to move the snow, and large piles of accumulated snow must eventually be loaded into vehicles and removed from the city to make space. For large parking lots and long driveways, the distance needed to clear the snow is often great, which requires motorized tools or requires the user to lift and transport the snow to an area away from the location being treated in order to prevent snow accumulation in areas yet to be cleaned.
To deal with this problem, rather than displacing the snow, devices have been developed to melt the snow at a given location. Rather than transporting the snow, the snow is melted into liquid form on the spot. This eliminates an accumulated mass of snow and solves the issue of transporting solid snow from one location to another. These types of devices are generally found in industrial or commercial scale, whereby the assemblies are supported on towed trailers and are sized to receive snow from a front-end loader or similar large capacity loader. For the individual homeowner in a residential environment, this type of apparatus is not attainable and is not practical.
What is needed is a personal snow melting device for homeowners that can be used to melt snow from driveways and sidewalks. The present invention provides such a device, wherein snow can be loaded into a snow melting device embodied in a personal cart, which is suitable for residential or commercial use. The cart comprises a wheeled housing having an open interior and an open upper configured to receive quantities of shoveled snow therein. Along the interior of the device is a water line having a plurality of nozzles, whereby heated water is directed from the water line via the nozzles onto the snow within the housing to melt the same. The snow is melted in the housing and dispensed as a liquid from one or more drain tubes along the housing that remove the melted snow from the housing.
Snow is therefore melted using heated water, and the melted snow is then heated and recycled by the device to melt further snow placed in the device, thereby providing a self-sustaining snow melting apparatus that can be used to melt snow on the spot while shoveling the same. Overall, the present invention allows a user to remove and eliminate snow without carrying or transporting the same from an area being cleared.
Description of the Prior Art
Devices have been disclosed in the prior art that relate to snow melting device. These include devices that have been patented and published in patent application publications. These devices generally relate to large, industrial apparatuses that are suitable for use with front-end loaders and for large scale use. The present invention relates to a personal appliance that can be used equally by residential and commercial users, and with standard shovels and the like. The following is a list of devices deemed most relevant to the present disclosure, which are herein described for the purposes of highlighting and differentiating the unique aspects of the present invention, and further highlighting the drawbacks existing in the prior art.
One such device exemplary of the art is U.S. Pat. No. 6,360,738 to Brooks, which discloses a snow disposal apparatus that comprises a hopper in which snow is deposited and positioned over a plurality of burners for melting the snow. The snow is melted and the resulting water flows through an opening in the bottom of the device. The Brooks device is useful for melting quantities of snow; however it fails to provide a mobile assembly with the elements of the present invention. The present invention contemplates a mobile appliance that circulates heated water through the device to melt snow and deposit heated water into the ambient environment as the device fills.
Similar to Brooks is U.S. Pat. No. 8,628,324 to Burnett, which discloses a burner assembly supported over a hopper for melting snow. The device of Burnett comprises combustion chamber, an engine room, and a receptacle to receive snow. The assembly is sufficiently large that it is positioned on flatbed trailer and used to melt large quantities of snow. By contrast, the present invention contemplates a mobile appliance that resembles a hand cart, whereby a tankless water heater is employed to heat melted snow into water, and pump the heated water over snow placed therein. The device therefore uses the heated snow to melt further snow in a cycle.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,235,762 to Brady discloses another snow melting apparatus that uses a reduction chamber and heated air from a burner to melt snow. A heat exchanger is used, whereby heated water is pumped through pipes and used to melt exposed snow placed within the reduction chamber. Similar to Burnett and Brooks, the Brady device is quite large and is more of a commercial appliance than a personal tool used individually. The elements of the Brady devices similarly diverge from that of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,791,335 to Luciani discloses a snow melting device that utilizes a hopper to support snow and direct a spray of water thereon. Further provided is a ram/screen that can collapse on the melting snow and break down the structure thereof. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,506,656 to Baasch discloses an apparatus for liquefying snow using a motor driven agitator and a water source that pumps water continuously into a holding tank. The water source is a hydrant, and the water is removed from the device as it fills to capacity.
As with the aforementioned devices, the Luciani and Baasch devices fail to contemplate a personal appliance that can melt snow at a location being cleared, and one that is not solely used in large-scale commercial or municipal functions. The present invention is a hand cart appliance that receives shoveled snow for melting the same as the snow is loaded. Hot water is circulated through the device to rapidly melt loaded snow, while excess water is removed to maintain an equilibrium between circulated water, melted snow, and snow being loaded to prevent overflow or stoppages.
The present invention contemplates a specific hot water heating system and means of circulating the melted snow as heated water. The heated water is dispensed onto fresh snow loaded into the device, whereby the snow rapidly melts and transforms to water. That water is heated and dispensed over further snow placed therein. The elements and the construction of the present invention are heretofore unanticipated in the art, and it is submitted that a suitable solution to the problem of smaller scale snow melting appliances has yet to be resolved. The present invention substantially diverges in design elements from the prior art and substantially fulfills a need in the art for a personal snow melting appliance.